Now Reading: Bauxite mining cleared 1.6 km from India’s first marine sanctuary
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Bauxite mining cleared 1.6 km from India’s first marine sanctuary
The Union environment ministry's expert appraisal committee recommended environmental clearance on July 29 for a bauxite and marl mining project in Devbhumi Dwarka district, Gujarat, reports The Federal. The 5-hectare site lies…
The Story in Brief
The Union environment ministry's expert appraisal committee recommended environmental clearance on July 29 for a bauxite and marl mining project in Devbhumi Dwarka district, Gujarat, reports The Federal. The 5-hectare site lies 1.6 km from India's first marine wildlife sanctuary and 6 km from the country's first marine national park, both in the Gulf of Kachchh.
The sanctuary and park host over 49 hard coral species, 23 soft corals, 70 sponge species, 421 fish species, and three sea turtle species. The project's environment impact assessment says the distance acts as a natural barrier and that regional impacts will not be critical for key habitat elements. The proponent, L and S Company, must still secure a wildlife conservation plan from Gujarat's forest department.
The Indian Opinion
The standard line that distance is a 'natural barrier' sounds reassuring until you recall that 1.6 km is barely a kilometre across open sea. Tides, currents, and dust don't respect survey boundaries. The EIA calls regional impacts non-critical, but local stress on corals and mangroves is precisely what a marine sanctuary is meant to prevent. The real test will be whether the forest department's wildlife conservation plan imposes monitoring that outlasts the first mining season.
Source: thefederal.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
